Attendees through the Singapore Airshow in Singapore, on Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. The present runs via Feb. 8. Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg through Getty Photos
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Photos
With geopolitical uncertainty on the rise, protection consumers on the Singapore Airshow say they’re prioritizing sovereignty, from native manufacturing and co‑improvement to proudly owning the software program and mental property that run their techniques.
Business leaders say that management over {hardware}, software program and provide chains is now a central consider procurement selections.
Executives on the present, which closes on Sunday, pointed to shifting alliances and harder rhetoric from main powers as a catalyst for the pattern.
“There’s a notion that’s coming round very explicitly … the notion of sovereignty,” Pascale Sourisse, senior govt vp for worldwide improvement at French aerospace and protection agency Thales, informed CNBC.
Sourisse added that this mindset has helped drive protection spending increased as nations conclude they need to take care of their very own safety.
Chua Jin Kiat, govt vp and head of worldwide protection enterprise at Singapore engineering and protection agency ST Engineering, echoed the sentiment, and stated that over the past 12 months, U.S. President Donald Trump’s combative stance towards allies has pushed nations to appreciate that “we might not be capable to rely on others.”
Beneath the Trump administration, the U.S. has pushed its allies to spend extra on protection, with NATO committing to spend 5% of their GDP on protection by 2035.
Trump has threatened allies’ corresponding to Canada and most not too long ago Denmark over its territory of Greenland. He has additionally reportedly stated he would promote allies weaker variations of American weapons “as a result of sometime, perhaps they don’t seem to be our allies.”
Chua added that nations are recognizing that outdated alliances and alignments might not be “so enforceable or related” anymore, even organizations corresponding to NATO.
“So that you could be a NATO member. However really, on the finish of the day as we speak, what we’re seeing is, initially, if I am Germany, I am Germany. If I am Finland, I am Finland,” he stated.
Provide chain resilience
A direct consequence of that shift is a renewed emphasis on boosting provide‑chain resilience. Firms informed CNBC they’re responding by localizing manufacturing, transferring know‑how, or partnering with home corporations so prospects can keep and improve techniques with out lengthy, fragile provide traces.
Sourisse stated Thales will not be solely advertising its options but additionally planning to localize actions and competencies. The corporate has arrange joint labs in Singapore with native businesses to develop capabilities on the bottom.
ST Engineering’s Chua stated the corporate, constrained by Singapore’s restricted land space obtainable for big factories, prefers co‑manufacturing preparations abroad.
For instance, if ST Engineering could make superior automobiles in a rustic with extra space for manufacturing crops than Singapore, the corporate would collaborate and educate them how one can construct them in a co-production effort.
“For lots of the huge primes, they need to preserve their factories at house operating. They have big manufacturing crops, 1000’s of jobs, and the lights need to be saved on continuously.”
New youngsters on the block
Sovereignty extends past factories to software program and mental property. Newer corporations within the protection tech area have gotten conscious of these calls for and are structuring offers accordingly.
U.S.- primarily based Defend AI, which develops autonomous warfare techniques, signed a memorandum of understanding on the airshow to combine its Hivemind autonomy software program throughout chosen ST Engineering platforms.
Defend AI X-bat flight rendering
Defend AI
The corporate had earlier in 2025 partnered with the Republic of Singapore Air Drive to make use of Hivemind to boost the RSAF’s autonomous capabilities.
Brandon Tseng, co‑founding father of Defend AI, informed CNBC that Hivemind allows different firms and militaries to develop their very own artificial-intelligence pilots domestically, and Singapore would personal that mental property.
“They will construct AI pilots for no matter they need to do. We do not personal [the IP],” he informed CNBC.
Tseng added that whereas nations will proceed to purchase some international {hardware}, many need to indigenize crucial capabilities corresponding to AI and autonomy.
